The truth about mobiles and shopping

TNS Global

Mobile shopping apps have been giving retailers showrooming-haunted nightmares for several years now.

But when we look beyond how many people install these apps and ask how many people actually use them, a very different picture emerges. In a groundbreaking study, Kantar TNS surveyed those using shopping apps to find out how often they did so – and what they did as a result. The findings are a game-changer for the use of mobile in retail:

Only a quarter of those with a product info or price comparison app installed on their phone had used it in the past month

The vast majority of mobile shopping app use takes place at home, when planning a shopping trip, rather than during the trip itself

The most likely result of comparing prices on a phone, in-store is to carry on buying the product you planned to

Retailers own apps are rated as significantly more useful than any other type when it comes to saving time, money and angst